Troll, when I advocate diplomacy and persuasion, I am not suggesting that we try to negotiate with bin Laben and his bunch. I'm not that naïve. Nor am I naïve enough to believe that overt military action is going to be of much use. Quite the contrary. It will cause little but "collateral damage," turn potential allies against us, and "prove" bin Laden's contention that we are the Bad Guys. It will play right into his hands.

The only things that are going to pull us through in this are restraint (have enough self-control to keep from screwing things up entirely by going off half-cocked), intelligence (of all kinds) and subtilty. He and those like him can be rendered ineffective and ineffectual in ways other than killing or capturing them. But taking military action at this point would make that impossible.

Don Firth